新聞工作者受審，土耳其新聞自由受關注

In a packed Istanbul courthouse the trial of 17 journalists, accused of being involved in July’s failed coup, got underway Monday. All are facing long sentences, including life if convicted.

Prosecutors allege the journalists belong to a network of followers of the U.S. based Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey's government blames for the coup attempt.

Nazli Ilicak is a leading newspaper columnist who rejected the accusations, telling the court she was a supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before he came to power and spent her life opposing coups, pointing out her father was a senior minister who had been jailed following a 1960 military takeover.

The first three hours of Monday’s hearing was taken up reading the more than 200 page indictment. Much of the cited evidence made no reference to the journalists activities, but focused on the cleric Gulen.

Many international and national human rights groups attended Monday’s hearings. "It's very concerning people are really facing serious charges, with potentially three life sentences on the basis of very, very little evidence of criminal acts, and that's really worrying,” warned Amnesty International’s Milena Buyum, speaking after attending the first day of hearings,

Human rights groups accuse Turkey of being the world's worst jailor of journalists, with more than 170 incarcerated since the post coup crackdown. Monday’s hearing is likely to only add to questions over the legitimacy of that crackdown.

But before the trial Erdogan dismissed such criticism, "Whenever we go abroad, Western media outlets come up with the same argument, claiming there are many detained journalists in Turkey. However, according to figures from our Ministry, only two people out of 177 who identify themselves as journalists are holders of a press card. In addition, one of these persons is currently in jail for murder and the others for their involvement in terrorist organizations," Erdogan said in a speech Saturday to national media heads.

The president went on to warn there would be no let up in the crackdown, “I see no difference between those who sell their news headlines with the instructions of a terrorist organization and those who take to the mountains with a gun in their hands,” said Erdogan.土耳其伊斯坦布爾一家法庭星期一展開對17名新聞工作者的庭審，法庭裏座無虛席。這些人被控參與了去年7月的未遂政變，如果被認定有罪，他們都將面臨長期監禁，甚至是終身監禁。

檢方指責這些新聞工作者隸屬於現居美國的伊斯蘭教士費特胡拉·居倫的追隨者網絡。土耳其政府認爲這次未遂政變就是由居倫發動的。

一家大報的專欄作家納茲裏·裏卡克對她的指控予以否認。她告訴法庭說，土耳其總統埃爾多安上臺前，自己一直是埃爾多安的支持者，而且一輩子都反對政變。她指出，她父親曾是一名高級部長，後來就是在1960年軍方奪權後被監禁的。

星期一庭審一上來花了三個小時的時間誦讀200多頁的起訴書，提出的證據大多沒有涉及這些新聞工作者的活動，而是集中在伊斯蘭教士居倫身上。

很多國際和國內人權團體都出席了星期一的庭審。國際特赦的瑪麗娜·拜耶姆在第一天庭審結束後說：“這些人面臨嚴重指控，有的面臨三個終身監禁，而卻沒有什麼可以證明他們刑事犯罪的證據，這種情況令人擔憂。”

人權組織指責土耳其是世界上監禁記者最惡劣的國家，政變未遂以來，已經有170多名新聞工作者被關押。星期一的庭審會給鎮壓行動的合法性帶來更多的問題。

然而，土耳其總統埃爾多安在這次庭審前，就對這些批評予以了駁斥。他星期六向全國媒體負責人講話時說：“我們不論什麼時候到國外去，西方媒體都會提出同樣的問題，說土耳其關押了很多新聞工作者，但是根據我們的數字，177個自稱是記者的人當中，只有兩個人持有記者證，其中一個人還是因爲殺人入獄，其他人則是因爲參加恐怖組織的活動。”

埃爾多安還警告說，鎮壓行動不會放鬆。他說：“在我看來，按照恐怖組織的指令出賣新聞，而拿着槍進山的人，是沒有區別的。”

埃爾多安的話立即引起了媒體的批評。土耳其新聞委員會負責人說：“我們已經習慣了埃爾多安的這些聲明。大家願意怎麼說都可以。被關押的新聞工作者之所以被關押是因爲他們的採寫行爲，因爲他們挖掘新聞，因爲他們尋找事實。”